[Adopted 9-14-1999]
A.Â
The Town of Lexington has implemented a program to
make the sewer system available to all building lots currently within
the town;
B.Â
Rapid residential and industrial growth may affect
groundwater that reaches drinking water supplies;
C.Â
The boundaries of the Town include productive aquifers,
surface waters used as a drinking water supply and extensive wetlands
that feed into the drinking water supplies of other towns (DEP-designated
Zone II areas);
D.Â
The Town of Lexington includes many homes which are
connected to cesspools or older, inefficient subsurface disposal systems;
E.Â
Inadequate treatment of sewage by septic systems may
contribute to increased levels of nitrates, bacteria and viruses or
hazardous chemicals that can contaminate water supplies; and
F.Â
The Town of Lexington, according to Massachusetts
Geographic Information Services studies, exhibits high groundwater
levels and sandy soils that limit the filtration capabilities of subsurface
disposal systems.
The Board of Health prohibits the installation of new on-site sewage disposal systems, except as indicated in § 155-86, Exemptions.
All buildings where municipal sewer is available
will be connected to the sewer system upon determination of subsurface
disposal system failure by a licensed system inspector or by order
of the Lexington Board of Health or its agent.
Exemptions to § 155-84 may be allowed under the following conditions:
A.Â
Municipal sewer system is not available to the residence.
Availability of the sewer system will be based on consideration of
the following criteria, including but not limited to: access to the
municipal sewer system, proximity to wetlands, geological characteristics
of the area and easement requirements. If the pipe serving the building
will have to extend more than 30 feet beyond the property line, or
if costs for the sewer line exceed 10% of the assessed value of the
property, the Board of Health will consider alternative proposals
for on-site wastewater disposal for the site.
B.Â
There is no increase in design flow to the system
involved, or the owner can demonstrate that the public health is protected
equally by a new or alternative system with increased design flows,
compared with an older system at previous design flows.
C.Â
The owner can demonstrate manifest injustice caused
by connection to the municipal sewer system compared to the use of
a standard subsurface disposal system or alternative system.
D.Â
Placement of a sewer line conflicts with the state
and Town wetland protection laws or other regulation.
A.Â
General requirements. All new on-site sewage disposal
systems allowed by the Board of Health shall meet, at a minimum, the
standards set forth in Title Five of the State Environmental Code,
310 CMR 15.000, and all additional conditions required by the Board
of Health to protect the public health.
B.Â
Soil evaluations and percolation tests. Prior to the
installation of all disposal systems, complete soil evaluations and
percolation tests, as required by 310 CMR 15.000, shall be carried
out. The Board of Health or its agent must witness, approve and sign
the soil evaluation, and a copy of the study must be submitted to
the Board of Health.
C.Â
Garbage grinders. Garbage grinders may not be connected
to a subsurface disposal system.
D.Â
E.Â
Subdivided lots. Subdivided lots must be connected
to the sewer system.
For all inspections of subsurface disposal systems,
a state-licensed inspector shall use the methods noted in 310 CMR
15.00 for seasonal high groundwater determinations. The Board of Health
may, at its discretion, require additional tests to determine seasonal
high groundwater levels.
A.Â
No installation of an on-site sewage disposal system
may be carried out without prior plan review and approval by the Board
of Health.
B.Â
System installers must be licensed by the Town of
Lexington through the Board of Health. Licenses will be issued on
an annual basis.
C.Â
The Board of Health must approve all plans for on-site
disposal system designs prior to system installation. Following completion
of the system, and prior to issuance of a certificate of compliance,
the installer must provide an as-built plan to the Board of Health
for approval, to be kept on file for a minimum of three years.
D.Â
Alternative systems. The Board of Health may consider
alternative on-site disposal system designs to those described under
Title Five of the Environmental Code. The Board of Health will approve
only those alternative designs accepted by the Department of Environmental
Protection.
E.Â
The Board of Health may establish any special conditions
necessary to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety
and the environment and to ensure appropriate evaluation, inspection,
maintenance, repairs and replacements. Such conditions may include,
without limitation, flow limitations, monitoring, inspections, maintenance,
testing and reporting requirements, a requirement that a certified
operator operate the system and financial assurance mechanisms.
F.Â
The Board of Health may also require additional information
and studies to be performed at the site, or adjacent to the site,
such as:
(1)Â
Hydrological studies and calculations for the mean
annual, ten-year and one-hundred-year storm incidents. High water
determinations and the corresponding hydrological calculations for
these events must be submitted.
(2)Â
Water quality studies and analyses.
(3)Â
Other studies and analyses related to the design and
performance of the proposed system.
G.Â
New construction. The Board of Health will not approve
alternative systems for new construction unless the lot involved can
also support a system that is fully compliant with Title Five of the
State Environmental Code, without variance. The area on the lot where
a standard septic system might be placed must not be built upon or
covered with an impermeable surface.
A.Â
Site and plan evaluations. The Board of Health shall
assess fees for witnessing of soil evaluations and percolation tests,
for system inspections and for outside expert review of preliminary
and as-built plans. The owner of the lot, contractor or other agent
required to comply with this regulation will be responsible for these
costs.
B.Â
System installers. The Lexington Board of Health will
set fees for licenses that the Board will issue to system installers
on a yearly basis.
C.Â
Expert review. Upon request of the Board of Health, applicants seeking a permit to construct a new sewage disposal system shall deposit a sum specified by the Board of Health in a special account as described under Article VII, Establishment of Special Accounts, of this chapter. Fees and other expenses for the hiring of consultants, groundwater determinations, review of proposed designs, site evaluations and any other evaluations required by the Board of Health for review of the system design will be deducted from this account. Upon completion of the project, any remaining money will be returned to the applicant.
All disposal systems must be pumped every three
years. All cesspools must be pumped yearly. The septage hauler must
submit to the Board of Health a report of the maintenance service,
including the address at which the service was given, name of system
owner, date and a description of the maintenance services provided.
A.Â
System failure.
(1)Â
The Board of Health will find a system to be failing
following an inspection by a state-licensed inspector and a determination
that one or more conditions described in 310 CMR 15.303 or 15.304
of Title Five of the Massachusetts Environmental Code exists, or the
Board of Health or its agent identifies one of the conditions described
below.
(a)Â
The system is in an environmentally sensitive area as defined in the town's septic management plan, or in a protected wetlands resources area as defined in the Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40, and Chapter 130, Wetland Protection, of the General Bylaws.
(b)Â
Placement of system within a one-hundred-year
flood zone, based on the available flood profile data prepared by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
(c)Â
The system was pumped out more than two times
in a ninety-day period.
(d)Â
Any other condition deemed by the Board of Health
to require an upgrade, repair or replacement of the subsurface disposal
system as allowed under 310 CMR 15.025.
(2)Â
Minor repairs (e.g., replacement of cap or inlet tees)
may be carried out with approval of the Board of Health.
B.Â
Correction of failing systems. If the Board of Health determines that a system fails to protect the public health, the owner must repair, upgrade or connect the system to the sewer within a period designated by the Board of Health or within two years. Failure to comply with an order to correct a failing system may result in fines in accordance with MGL c. 111, § 31, 105 CMR 15.026(4) and Chapter 130, Wetland Protection, of the General Bylaws. Failure to comply with such an order may also result in the declaration of the property as uninhabitable, as defined under 105 CMR 410.750 and 410.83 1, Minimum Standards of Fitness for Human Habitation (State Sanitary Code, Chapter 11).
C.Â
Inspection reports.
(1)Â
Licensed system inspectors must submit inspection
reports to the Board of Health within 10 working days after completion
of the inspection.
(2)Â
System inspectors must notify the Lexington Board
of Health at least two business days prior to carrying out an inspection
on a subsurface disposal system in the town.
(3)Â
Failure to have an inspection carried out on a property
as required by 310 CMR 15.300 may result in fines against the property
owner under the provision of 310 CMR 15.026(4).
A.Â
After connection of a home to the municipal sewer
system, or if the Board of Health permits replacement of a system,
the owner must abandon the original system. The homeowner must have
the septic system or cesspool disconnected from the building it served
in accordance with the State Plumbing Code and have the cesspool or
septic tank destroyed or made unusable by filling in the tank. Metal
tanks must be removed from the ground and disposed of by the homeowner
or his or her representative. Building owners will be held responsible
for final abandonment of the original subsurface disposal system.
B.Â
At the time of system abandonment, both property owner
and contractor must sign a Board of Health approved form attesting
to completion of the system abandonment.
The Board of Health may allow a variance to
any provisions of these regulations when, in its opinion, the enforcement
thereof would do manifest injustice and the applicant has proved that
the same degree of environmental protection required by these regulations
can be achieved without strict application of the particular provision.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Systems designed to provide or enhance on-site sewage disposal
systems which either do not contain all of the components of an on-site
disposal system constructed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.000 or which
contain components in addition to those specified in 310 CMR 15.000
and which are proposed to the local approving authority and/or the
Department of Environmental Protection for remedial, pilot, provisional
or general use approval pursuant to 310 CMR 15.280 through 15.289.
A pipe that begins outside the inner face of a building wall
and extends to an on-site system or municipal or private sewer.
A pit with open-jointed linings or holes in the bottom and/or
side walls into which raw sewage is discharged, the liquid portion
of the sewage being disposed of by seeping or leaching into the surrounding
soils, and the solids or sludge being retained in the pit. Cesspools
are nonconforming systems.
An open pit dug to permit examination of the soils and to
obtain data relative to the mean annual high groundwater elevation.
A person, licensed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.019, who
constructs, repairs or replaces an on-site subsurface sewage disposal
system.
A level, watertight structure that receives septic tank effluent
and distributes it in substantially equal portions to distribution
lines in a soil absorption system.
A system that fails to protect public health and safety or
the environment, as set forth in 310 CMR 15.303 or 15.304.
Water found in cracks, fissures and pore spaces in the saturated
zone below the ground surface, including but not limited to perched
groundwater.
As determined in accordance with 310 CMR 15.103, 15.104 and
15.107. For inland areas, the elevation above which, in eight out
of 10 consecutive years, the groundwater table does not rise. This
elevation is commonly, but not invariably, reached during the months
of December through April.
All activities required to assure the effective and continuous
operation and performance of an on-site system, including but not
limited to solids and scum removal from the septic tank, re-leveling
the distribution box and the upgrade of one or more of the system
components, all as more fully described in 310 CMR 15.201 through
15.422.
The construction of a new building for which an occupancy
permit is required or an increase in the actual or design flow to
any nonconforming system or to any other system above the existing
approved capacity. New construction shall not include replacement
or repair of an existing building totally or partially destroyed or
demolished if there is no increase in flow or no increase in flow
above the existing approved capacity for any system.
A system or series of systems for the treatment and disposal
of sanitary sewage below the ground surface on a facility. The standard
components of a system are: a building sewer; a septic tank to retain
solids and scum; a distribution box; a soil absorption system containing
effluent distribution lines to distribute and treat septic tank effluent
prior to discharge to appropriate subsurface soils; and a reserve
area. These terms also include tight tanks, shared systems and alternative
systems. Unless the text of 310 CMR 15.000 indicates otherwise, these
terms also include nonconforming systems.
An area of land with demonstrated capacity for subsurface
sewage disposal on which no permanent structure shall be constructed
and which is intended for siting of a replacement of the principal
system should it fail.
A person licensed by the Lexington Board of Health to remove
septage from on-site sewage disposal systems and transport it to an
approved disposal location in accordance with 310 CMR 15.500.
A watertight receptacle to receive sewage from a building
sewer which is designed and constructed to permit sufficient retention
of wastewater to allow for the separation of scum and sludge and the
partial digestion of organic matter before discharge of the liquid
portion to a soil absorption system.
A system of trenches, galleries, chambers, pits, fields or
beds together with effluent distribution lines and aggregate which
is installed in appropriate soils to receive effluent from a septic
tank and transmit it to the soil interface for treatment in a biological
mat and disposal to the underlying soils.
Any land area or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts
Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40, and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto at 310 CMR 10.00 or pursuant to § 404
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1341,
or as defined in the local bylaw.[1]
That area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well
under the most severe pumping and recharge conditions that can realistically
be anticipated, as defined in Massachusetts drinking water regulations,
310 CMR 22.02.
